Those beverages which man imbibes when he is no longer thirsty, which cloud his weak mind, and render him ill when in good health, are called fermented liquors. Beer is one of the most ancient. If we are to believe Diodorus of Sicily, Bacchus himself invented it.[XXVI-1] However, it is certain that the absolute injunction not to drink wine, caused the inhabitants of Egypt to have recourse to a factitious beverage obtained from barley,[XXVI-2] often mentioned in history under the name of _zythum_ and _curmi_,[XXVI-3] and whose invention has been often attributed to Osiris--which means, that its precise origin is entirely unknown. It was a kind of beer composed of barley, and capable of being preserved for a long time without decomposing;[XXVI-4] for instead of hops, utterly unknown in that country, a bitter infusion of lupins was added.[XXVI-5] The Egyptians also used Assyrian corn in its composition, and probably other aromatic plants, in which each one followed his peculiar taste. The method of brewing varied much among them;[XXVI-6] but the one here mentioned was that most generally in use to procure zythum in Lower Egypt, where it was converted, like our beer, into vinegar, which the Greek merchants of Alexandria exported to the European ports.[XXVI-7] The Egyptians long drank nothing but this fermented liquor, because the followers of Osiris believed that when Jupiter crushed the Titans with thunderbolts, their blood, mixing with the earth, produced the vine. They invented the zythum as a substitute for wine.[XXVI-8] It is not probable that the Greeks, whose wines were so renowned in antiquity, thought much of beer. Nevertheless, Aristotle[XXVI-9] mentions drunkenness being caused by drinking a beverage drawn from barley. Æschylus[XXVI-10] and Sophocles[XXVI-11] mention a liquor procured from the same cereal. The use of beer spread rapidly in Gaul, where wine was but little known before the time of Probus. The Emperor Julian, governor of this country, acquaints us of this fact in an epigram.[XXVI-12] The Spaniards, and the aborigines of Britany and Germany, also delightfully intoxicated themselves with an “infusion of barley,” called by the first of these nations, _cœlia_, _ceria_, _cerevisia_,[XXVI-13] and _curmi_ by the two latter. These various denominations signify literally, _strong water_,[XXVI-14] and this fermented drink was common to the nations just indicated.[XXVI-15] All the people of Western Europe drank a strong liquor made with grain and water. The manner of preparing it was not the same in Spain, in Gaul, and elsewhere; but everywhere it possessed the same dangerous properties. “Man,” says Pliny, “is so skilful in flattering his vices, that he has even found means to render water poisonous and intoxicating.”[XXVI-16]